Yesterday’s post about The Night Before Christmas On Sesame Street got me thinking of the Christmas album it came from, which I have somewhere around here. Then it got me thinking of the Christmas special that some of those songs came from, and after taking a look around YouTube I found it. Christmas Eve On Sesame Street is a 1978 Christmas special that aired on PBS, not to be confused with a CBS special that wasn’t as good. This one lacks the spelling and counting lessons but the comedy and stories they had back then are still intact. In fact one of them inspired my Jake & Leon Christmas special from many years back. I of course added it to my new Christmas special playlist.
Some of you younger readers who grew up with Sesame Street may not recognize some of the human cast. Gordon, his wife Susan, music teacher Bob, the then couple of David and Maria, Bob’s deaf girlfriend Linda (played by an actress who is actually deaf), and Mr. Hooper, who holds a strong place in the show’s history. When actor Will Lee passed away, The show made the rather balsy move (for a kids show) of having Mr. Hooper die as well, to help kids who may also have trouble coping with the death of a loved one at such a young age. I’m not sure how many of the others are left due to the new format giving the humans little to do when they’re on-camera, but I know the cast has changed over the years.
In the story Oscar tells Big Bird and his friend Abby that Santa Claus can’t possibly fit down the skinny New York chimneys and if he can’t there won’t be any presents this year. This panics Big Bird and while his friends help he has his own solution that could make an un-merry Christmas for everyone on Sesame Street. Even Oscar. There are also various hi-jinks with the characters at the skating rink, Cookie Monster trying to get a letter to Santa, and the aforementioned story with Bert and Ernie. Enjoy!
